Prototype 157G
by KetaPhex
Summary: Heero contacts Duo, he needs help on a mission, but they havent seen each other for 5 years and old emotions are still flying around... PLEASE SEE PROFILE INFO
1. 1

Well, I expect I should really do a disclaimer right? I've never done one before and to be totally honest I don't think anyone reads them anyway (me for one) but here we go...  
  
I don't own any of the GW characters etc. mentioned blah blah blah but the story plot is mine etc etc etc....  
  
Oh sod it... that'll do for now...  
  
Miko: God you're lazy...  
  
Kaine: Shut it muse...  
  
Miko: --  
  
Kaine: On with the story!!! Oh yea there will be YAOI in later chapters when I finally write them so don't get angry with me!!!  
  
Miko: Pervert...  
  
Kaine:Oo  
  
"Come on... come on..." Duo hissed at the computer screen. He took another sip of his coffee and grimaced at the bitter, cold taste. He missed Quatre's coffee; he made the best coffee in the universe, literally. Not matter how much milk or sugar or instant coffee granules Duo put into his mug, it was never quite the same. Columns of numbers were flying up the screen and, while they wouldn't have meant anything to normal people, to Duo they meant he was getting closer. Closer to breaking the unwritable protection on 'Space Trinity 3000'. That's what former Gundam pilot Duo Maxwell did in his spare time. Bought computer games, spent a few days breaking their re- write blocks then making millions of copies to sell off to anyone who wanted them. He didn't do it for the money, more for the satisfaction that he could do it. It always felt pretty good to break the re-write code on a supposedly un-writable game; it was a bit like pissing on the creator's bonfire.  
  
The numbers slowed then disappeared. A smaller column appeared on screen with Duo's favourite message.  
  
Re-write complete. Save files to new folder Y/N?  
  
Duo pressed the 'Y' key and sat back, a satisfied grin on his face.  
  
'Un-writable my ass' he thought happily. He closed the window and double clicked the Internet icon and waited while the modem did its usual beeping and clicking as it connected to the World Wide Web. The homepage popped up and Duo signed into his email inbox. Four in his inbox and 36 in his junk mail. He deleted all of the latter and three of the ones in the inbox. He was about to delete the fourth, when the sender's name caught his eye.  
  
'Zero' was all it said in the box. Duo opened it curiously, praying it wasn't another virus that he hadn't heard of yet, or created for that matter. The email opened and Duo's jaw hit the floor.  
  
Hello Duo, I got your email address from Trowa, hope you don't mind. Anyway, I have a favour to ask of you. Do you remember a year or so ago when there were some  
rumours flying around about a new type of mobile suit that was in  
development illegally?  
  
Duo did remember. He took a cigarette out of the packet beside him and lit up.  
  
Well, as it turns out, the rumours were true and this mobile suit is indeed being developed on a small colony somewhere. It's supposed to be totally superior to any mobile suit before it, including the Gundams, and it's been  
reported that development is scheduled to finish later this year, round  
about October. Shipment of the suit should start the following March, providing all goes according to plan. This is where we come in. Somebody contacted me anonymously a week or so ago and propositioned me. We go in,  
get the plans and blueprints of the prototype, bring them out then this  
contact brings everything to light, thus stopping development and production of the mobile suit and bringing the company down. The only thing is that I don't know if the 'contact' is reliable, I don't know if they're  
going to get these plans from us then run off with both them and the  
$100,000,000 they offered too.  
  
Money. Duo's eyes lit up and he leaned in closer to the monitor to continue reading.  
  
So I'm going to meet them in person, whether they like it or not, to do the exchange. But all that aside for now, the reason I mailed you is to ask for  
your help, I can't really do this alone as much as I would prefer too  
because the place were the research is taking place is heavily guarded,  
security is high. Also I guess I could do with not having to do all the work myself since we will need to get files, blueprints, research documents and photographic evidence of the developments. Please Duo, let me know very  
soon if you can do this.  
  
Heero  
  
Duo took a drag of the cigarette, which had mostly burned up to nothing, and thought for a moment. He and Heero hadn't seen each other for nearly five years, and here his old partner was, mailing him and asking for his help in a mission that sounded as dodgy as his coffee making skills. Heero would have no doubt changed a lot, as Duo himself had, and it was intriguing to know how Heero was these days. A slightly dodgy sounding mission was totally out of character for him, but then Heero had said that he wasn't about to stand for anymore potential wars a long time ago, and if he knew Heero, which he was pretty certain he did, taking down this company meant a lot to him. Duo grabbed the mouse and moved the cursor over the 'reply' button and clicked. He began typing.  
  
Dear Hee-chan, Yeah, I read your email and I've had a good think about it..........  
  
There we go, I know it's short but if I write anymore it'll just be...well...wrong! Anyway, RR please, even if you thought it was crap and I'll get writing chapter two...  
  
Miko: Yes indeed, get writing you lazy person...  
  
Kaine: Hey! I'm juggling three stories, homework and revision here!  
  
Miko: So?  
  
Kaine: Bloody muses...who needs 'em? 


	2. 2

Heero looked at his watch and sighed. Duo was ten minutes late going on eleven. He had told him in the second email not to be late, but why break the habit of a lifetime? The café waitresses bustled around annoyingly, constantly asking him if there was anything he wanted even though he said no every time. He finally gave in and ordered a coffee.  
  
"Make that two", a voice said from behind. Heero looked back over his shoulder and saw Duo Maxwell grinning widely at him.  
  
"'Sup Hee-chan?" he said as he sat opposite Heero on the red leather bench- seat.  
  
"You're late" Heero replied bluntly.  
  
"Nice to see you too. So what have you been up too for the past five years?"  
  
"Nothing interesting. You?"  
  
"Oh you know... illegal stuff."  
  
"No change there then."  
  
Duo smiled and leaned his elbows on the table. Heero noticed he was actually tanned, and his arms looked stronger than he remembered, but then again maybe his memories just weren't too accurate. Duo's braid was still the same as it had always been, un-practically long, soft and gorgeously shiny. To Duo, Heero looked just the same as he always had. Tanned, permanent scowl on his face and unruly brown hair. The green tank top was still in place, but Duo was glad to see that the spandex shorts had been replaced with black jeans.  
  
"So," Duo sad, sipping the coffee "what exactly does this little mission involve?"  
  
Heero looked cautiously around the café, leaned closer to Duo and spoke in a hushed voice.  
  
"The company that's developing the mobile suit is on colony AT90. It's a small colony that most people haven't heard of, and those that have think it's mainly scrap and junk yards, basically an industrial dumping ground."  
  
Duo took a cigarette out of his packet, and Heero frowned in disapproval. Duo shrugged, lit it and Heero continued.  
  
"We basically need to get in there, get the info we need and get out before we're discovered. Shouldn't be too challenging."  
  
"And how do we get in?" Duo asked, taking a drag on the cigarette and blowing out smoke rings. Something bumped his knee under the table and he glanced up at Heero who motioned down with his eyes. Duo reached under the table and took a piece of laminated card from Heero's hand. "False ID's. We pose as new workers, computer technicians. The head of the development is already expecting two new workers on Sunday afternoon. That's us, only he doesn't know what we're really there for, obviously."  
  
Duo nodded and looked at the little card in his lap. The name said 'Duo Winner'.  
  
"Dude, why have I got Quatre's surname?" he asked.  
  
"It's safer than calling you 'Maxwell'. Don't complain, I got 'Dorlan'"  
  
Duo grinned.  
  
"So how is Miss Peacecraft these days?"  
  
"Hell if I know. Look I didn't make up the names, that was Wufei."  
  
"If you're still in touch with all the others, how come you only just bothered to get in touch with me?" Duo quizzed him, pouting. Heero shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"Don't really know, I just... didn't. Anyway, we need to get to the colony by 4 pm on Sunday, are you in?"  
  
Duo nodded, and a slight hint of a smile crept onto Heero's lips, before he realised what he was doing and pushed the smile out into oblivion, and the Perfect Soldier scowl replaced it. Duo was strangely disappointed; he had always liked to see Heero smile, it suited him in a strange way.  
  
"Colony AT90 is two days away" Heero said "So we need to leave tomorrow morning."  
  
"Sure" Duo replied as he finished off the last of his coffee. Heero slid a white envelope across the table to him and he took it.  
  
"That's your flight ticket", he said as Duo inspected it carefully as though checking for microscopic explosives "meet me at the space port tomorrow at nine, okay?"  
  
Duo almost choked.  
  
"Nine?! I'm not usually up until at least one in the afternoon!"  
  
"You really haven't changed, have you?" Heero said, smirking. Duo scowled back.  
  
"Fine! Nine, okay, but don't blame me if I'm grouchy."  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow then" Heero said, getting up from his seat. He left the café and Duo watched him cross the road through the window.  
  
Duo stood, hands on hips, at the foot of his bed, glaring at the huge pile of clothes. Deciding what to pack for an undercover mission should have been easy, just take something that looked relatively inconspicuous and was practical. But when you have as many clothes as Duo Maxwell, the problem increases tenfold. He was currently debating whether to take the Guns 'n' Roses t-shirt or the Almighty one. In the end, he packed them both along with four pairs of black jeans, one pair of blue cut offs that were so short they should be illegal, a sleeveless Damned t-shirt, several black shirts and lots of socks and black-silk boxers.  
  
Satisfied, he closed the holdall and made sure he had put his passport in the side pocket. He decided not to leave the house keys with his neighbours in case they went snooping and found his illegal stash of copied computer games, and stuffed them in the holdall beneath the mass of black socks. Better to be safe than sorry. He looked at the clock on the bedside cabinet and sighed. He should probably be getting some sleep now, considering he had an early start in the morning, but he wasn't tired. Instead, he plodded down to the kitchen, made himself some toast and leaned against the worktop while he ate it, staring into space and thinking about...  
  
"Heero" he muttered, munching away on the slightly burnt toast.  
  
The Japanese pilot had always hidden his true emotions from everyone, but every now and again he had slipped up while he was around Duo, almost as though he wanted Duo to know how he really felt about a situation. He only ever smiled, laughed and, once or twice, complimented another around Duo. And yet he had somehow 'forgotten' to keep in touch with him? Not that it mattered now. Duo finished the toast and made his way upstairs to bed. 


	3. 3

Heero growled low in his throat as he realised Duo was ten minutes late again. It was a good job he had told him to get to the spaceport half an hour earlier than he would have actually had to. Eventually, Duo appeared in the midst of the crowded duty free department, dragging his hand luggage. A group of Chinese tourists took a random picture, the flash momentarily blinding the American. Duo spotted Heero and waved cheerily to him. Heero nodded back.  
  
"Oh come on Hee-chan!" Duo chirped, "We get to go on vacation and you're all grumpy!"  
  
"It's not a vacation Duo" Heero replied sternly "you need to remember that."  
  
"Oh I know, but I still intend to have some fun before we get there. I'm going duty free shopping, you coming?"  
  
Heero shook his head.  
  
"Suit yourself". Duo left his bags with Heero and scampered off towards the nearest fragrance shop. Heero watched him go, braid swinging, and wandered off to the bar.  
  
He didn't order anything though. It was always his belief that drinking before a flight, be it aeroplane or space travel, was something only football hooligans took part in. Duo on the other hand believed a pre- flight drink was tradition, and joined Heero at the bar along with four bags of aftershaves and shirts. He ordered a vodka and coke, the pulled something out of one of the bags.  
  
"I got this for you Hee-chan" he said, "I thought it would suit you."  
  
Heeor looked at the shirt in Duo's hands. Italian made black silk with pearl-white buttons. Heero's jaw dropped.  
  
"How much did that cost?!"  
  
"Oh don't worry about it. I thought it would be nice to get it for you since it's been so long. Plus, I'm sick of seeing you in that bloody tank top."  
  
Heero didn't say anything. He took the shirt and shoved it into his hand luggage, checking his watch as he did.  
  
"Come on" he said, standing up "boarding time."  
  
Duo nodded and downed the rest of his drink. Heero led the way to the terminal, wondering how long Duo could last before he had an explosion of energy and insisted on getting p from his seat every five minutes.  
  
"I need the toilet."  
  
"Why didn't you go before we boarded?"  
  
"I didn't need it then."  
  
Heero sighed. They hadn't been on the shuttle for five minutes and already Duo was unable to sit still. Heero cursed himself for letting him have the window seat. He got up and stood in the narrow aisle, pressing up against the seats to give the boarding passengers room to pass while Duo squeezed past them in the opposite direction towards the toilet. When he came back, he had already managed to upset one of their fellow passengers enough for them to ask the steward to remove him from the shuttle. The steward led him back to his seat and turned to Heero.  
  
"Please keep your son under control sir," he said.  
  
"He's not my son" Heero replied, "He's the same age as me."  
  
The steward looked slightly confused for a second, then apologised for his mistake. Duo glared at his as he walked back down the aisle checking people had their seatbelts on.  
  
"Why do they have seatbelt's on shuttles?" Duo asked "Is it so you don't fall off when they go around corners?"  
  
Heero laughed. He actually laughed, and it wasn't a little fake laugh. I t was a real, proper laugh, like when you have just found something genuinely funny. Duo was impressed. He wished he had a camera to capture the rare moment.  
  
"Find my little joke funny Hee-chan?"  
  
"You just made a point," Heero said from behind tears of laughter "there really is no point to them."  
  
A low rumble announced that the shuttle was about to take off, and Duo practically bounced with excitement. It moved out into the take off line and sped down it.  
  
Heero nudged Duo, but there was no waking him now. The American was fast asleep, leaning on Heero's shoulder. Heero looked out of the window upon the stars of space. The journey only had an hour or so left, and most of the passengers had disembarked on L2 when they stopped there about half an hour ago, all of which Duo had slept through. A stewardess stopped by on her way past to see if they wanted any blankets, and Heero declined. He felt Duo moving and looked down. He had to admit, he didn't really mind having Duo asleep on his shoulder, in fact he quite enjoyed it. Maybe one day he would finally have the balls enough to tell Duo how he really felt.  
  
Heero nudged Duo again, harder than before, and the braided boy woke up. He looked around the passenger compartment with the slightly glazed look to his eyes of someone who could use at least another hour of sleep.  
  
"Wasup?" he slurred "We there?"  
  
"No" Heero replied. Duo rubbed his eyes sleepily and cracked his neck. His braid was starting come undone, and little chestnut locks fell about his face along with his bangs.  
  
"Why did you wake me then?"  
  
"You were asleep on me, and since I want to sleep too I thought it would be a better idea to lie down. These seats do recline you know, you don't need to lean all over me." Back into Perfect Soldier mode. Heero even threw in a semi death glare to convince Duo further.  
  
Duo poked around the side of his seat and found the recline button. The seat moved back and rested horizontally, turning itself into a sort of bed. Shuttles like this one, supposedly made for long journeys, we're often boasted about by travel companies as having 'the most comfortable, spacious sleeping facilities in space travel!'  
  
Duo was finding it quite the opposite. The armrest was digging into his back and the headrest was hard and uncomfortable. He fidgeted constantly, and only stopped when Heero gave him a sharp dig in his side.  
  
"Hee-chan..." he moaned "stoppit okay?"  
  
"Keep still then baka."  
  
"I can't, these seats aren't exactly waterbeds you know."  
  
Heero turned over and glared at Duo.  
  
"It's not fair to keep me awake just because you can't sleep, I'll knock you out if I have to."  
  
Duo groaned and curled up, doing his best to keep the imposing armrest out of his back. Heero turned back again and faced out into the aisle. About three seats down from them, another passenger also had their seat reclined, and was reading. The rest of the seats were empty. Heero raised himself up on his elbow and looked out of the window.  
  
They were passing another colony, one Heero didn't recognise. They had another sixteen hours left before they reached AT90, and the thought of spending them cramped in this poor excuse for a chair was unappealing to say the least. A stewardess walked down the silent aisle and stopped to ask Heero if he wanted anything. Heero asked for an extra pillow, and she got one out of the overhead compartment for him. It was remarkable how similar the passenger aeroplanes and space shuttles were. The stewardess left and asked the one other passenger the same question. Heero paid no attention to them. Duo moved again but didn't wake up. The colony outside the window disappeared from view and Heero settled down to sleep.  
  
"Welcome to AT90" the kid at the check-in desk greeted them. Duo nodded in reply while Heero said nothing. The American was still half asleep, and Heero was practically carrying him around. Duo didn't bother to help Heero find their luggage at baggage claim either. Instead, he sat against the wall and waited until they were ready to go. Heero came over, dragging their bags and glared at Duo again for not helping.  
  
"Sorry" Duo apologised "I'm just too tired. I'd say it was jet lag but since we weren't on a plane I don't suppose that's right is it?"  
  
"Hn" was Heero's reply. Duo followed him to the pick up zone outside while they waited for their ride.  
  
Well, I've just read back over this and I can pick out the three exact points where I developed a crippling case of writers cramp and had to just throw in anything to keep myself from loosing my sanity. Oh well, it'll do. Sorry if it sucks, but hey I'm tired...  
  
Miko: and a crap author... Kaine: sod you... 


End file.
